Ahmed Wali Karzai

October 31, 2009

This week, the New York Times reported that Ahmed Wali Karzai, the brother of Afghan President Hamid Karzai, has been receiving payments from the CIA since 2001. It's an awkward situation, since most observers think Karzai is heavily involved in Southern Afghanistan's drug trade. However, it is not without precedent. Click through this TNR slideshow to see other questionable people who turned out to be on the CIA payroll over the years.

October 28, 2009

Hmm, maybe this is why John Kerry didn't want to badmouth him:
Ahmed Wali Karzai, the brother of the Afghan president and a suspected player in the country’s booming illegal opium trade, gets regular payments from the Central Intelligence Agency, and has for much of the past eight years, according to current and former American officials.
You have to wonder what other unsavory things the CIA is up to in Afghanistan. Which may also be a reason why Barack Obama isn't too keen on digging deep into Bush-era agency practices.
P.S.